A typical graphical user interface for controlling a computer processor employs a display component such as a computer monitor that displays discrete areas with control features with which a user can interact by manipulating input components such as a pointing device (a mouse) and/or a keyboard. When no discrete area is present, the majority of the display screen is often called “wallpaper,” and forms a background that may bound such areas when they are displayed.
The entire display area of the monitor is sometimes referred to as a “desktop,” and typically includes a colored controlling bar area proximate to one edge of the desktop and bounded by the wallpaper on one side. The controlling bar can be used for various functions, such as launching an application by initiating the display of a discrete area with the control features for that application. These areas typically include a colored border region, usually at the top, and are often displayed at least partially bounded by the wallpaper. In addition to control areas, the computer processor also from time to time causes the display on the monitor of message boxes such as dialog boxes, warnings, and other messages with colored regions. The message boxes can also be at least partially bounded by the wallpaper. This graphical user interface paradigm is widely used by computer operating system modules of various providers.
In a typical such operating system, the user can choose the image to be used as the wallpaper, and also can change the wallpaper image from time to time to suit his or her particular tastes. Wallpapers can be prestored in the computer as supplied to the user, or be based on an image such as a photograph stored on the computer by the user. Wallpapers can even be a succession of images that change at a predetermined interval (“slideshow”).
When a user changes the wallpaper on the monitor, a “glass color” associated with the borders, the controlling bar, and the messages discussed above may no longer provide a pleasing image when set against the wallpaper background. The user can change those colors manually, although it takes a certain amount of manipulation to do so and often involves sonic trial and error to find a color that is compatible with the new wallpaper. For a wallpaper that comprises a slideshow, though, the user would heretofore probably select a relatively neutral color that would be expected to be compatible with all of the backgrounds making up the slideshow.